How do you come up with a story?

Question

I love to write but I have a lot of trouble coming up with ideas. Can you give me any ideas on how to thinkone up BESIDES it just comes to you.

Answer 1

Start with a basic plot line.  Choose 3 plots, then ask questions.

Like this:

[wo]man vs. Technology

Rivalry

Necessity of Sacrificing Yourself

Now the questions:

What is the technology he/she is fighting against?

Is the technology something he/she understands and therefore have the ammunition to fight back?

Or is it completely foreign and he/she must enlist a 'helper' (read sidekick)?

Who are his/her rivals and why?

Why is it necessary to sacrifice yourself?

Can he/she be saved?

How?

Answer the questions as quickly as you can without thinking too much.  You'll be surprised by the answers you get.

Work on those answers, throw out the obviously stupid ones and list the remaining in chronological order.

By answering the questions, you should now have an idea who these characters (both protagonist and antagonist) are.

Watch spelling and grammar.  Sentence structure and 'white spaces' are very important in story writing.

Good luck.

P.S. - The plot line for the above could easily have come from The Matrix, but you can make it ANYTHING you want.

Answer 2

I use this exercise a lot, and it kickes off many short stories.

I write a conversation, between two people. Arguing. Not something deep, something shallow. Like what to get for dinner. And the argument must start and finish within a page. No details allowed, just dialogue. Finish the argument.

Add details to the dialogue-names, places, expressions, tones of voice-make it come alive. That should get some creative juices flowing. =)

Answer 3

Some good advice that I got was to "write what you know!"

Answer 4

It depends on what kind of story you like to write about. You can read books, read the newspaper or think about your life or your family's life. And if you still cant think up of an idea, just have a coffee or walk in the park to refresh your mind.

Usually,  I would  find inspirations from reading a newspaper article because article is just a short summary of an incident or a story, so its up to you to elaborate more about it. I also found listening to music and reading the lyric helps since usually they re usually written with a lot of emotions, then its up to you to create a story why the song is written that way. Or I just simply look at a picture since picture is a shot of an event or a time on paper, so its up to you to imagine what happened before or after the picture is taken ( I know it sounds cliche but a picture does speak a thousand words, even a mug shot of someone, can usually let you wonder what kind of crime he/she did)

Hope this helps! Goodluck

Answer 5

use stuff from your imagination, or write about things you observe